


Shepherd's Duty

by Woofemus



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8131462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woofemus/pseuds/Woofemus
Summary: Shepherd Rose purifies a human for the first time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> takes place after the game so spoiler warnings apply
> 
> the anime gave me like a million ideas after they went a little more in-depth with how purifying humans worked and I decided to run with it + shepherd rose before the second season throws all my ideas out the window

The sudden wave of malevolence hits Rose like a surge of electricity. That unsettling feeling she’s come to associate with malevolence comes, draping itself like an uncomfortable blanket over her. There’s something different about this malevolence though, something she can’t quite place quite yet, something that feels both familiar and not.

No matter though, this domain is _weak_. Nothing could ever compare to dragons and, well, the Lord of Calamity himself, Rose thinks with a smirk.  

“Man, I thought I’d have a chance to rest up after returning to town, but looks like the jobs are piling up now,” she says with a tired sigh, already turning into an empty alleyway. The malevolence grows stronger once she does, but still insignificant in her mind. “The Shepherd really doesn’t catch a break at all.”  

“Rose, wait.”

Rose sees the light of Lailah in front of her first before the fire seraph herself appears. Edna appears next to her as well. The look on Lailah’s face is stern, and oddly worried. Rose quirks an eyebrow at that.

“Rose… you’ve been only purifying hellions born from malevolence itself. This will be your first time purifying a humanhellion, as Shepherd.”

“Yeah? Shouldn’t be too bad, right?” Rose smiles reassuringly, hoping to lighten up the mood. It suddenly feels too serious for her liking. “If Sorey could do this, then I can too. Purification’s all the same in the end.”

“Rose, it’s not that simple anymore,” Lailah insists for the umpteenth time. “You were only a Squire then! You aren’t fully aware of everything just yet! As a Shepherd, you’re going to—“

“Take in its malevolence and purify it. I remember Sorey telling me.” Rose brushes past Lailah, more than confident she can handle this. “And besides, what could be worse after a few dragons and Kittybeard himself? It’ll be a piece of cake.”

“ _Rose_ —“

“Why not just let her experience it for herself,” Edna says then, oddly silent since the beginning of their conversation. “She’ll learn, soon enough.”

Lailah, still with her worried expression, eventually murmured her agreement.

They find the hellion hiding in a thankfully abandoned house. It’s standing next to the wall, with its back against it, staring at them when they enter.

Rose takes her daggers out with a flashy twirl. “Let’s make this quick.”

“Wait.” Lailah’s voice, a gentle whisper then, is now a firm command. “Look at the hellion. You should be able to see its true form now.”

“Huh?” Rose frowns. “True form? What do you mean?” Lailah says nothing more, but Rose follows her Prime Lord’s instructions, squinting her eyes.

Rose can see the sharp claws, the furry ears, the huge maw. A werebeast hellion, then. Easy enough. But Rose gets the feeling this isn’t what Lailah wants her to see. So she tries again, looks deeper, trying to see past the haze of thick malevolence.

A human face greets her, utterly terrified.

Rose suddenly stills.

“Did you see it?” Lailah’s voice drops back down to a soft whisper again.

“I… I-I, yeah,” Rose answers, disturbed. She’s never been able to see  _that_ before as Squire. They had all looked like monsters to her. Did… was this what Sorey had been seeing? All those times…

But this is neither the time nor place to ponder about this, Rose decides. Later. There’s something she has to do now. She quickly whips a smile back on her face. “Still business as usual, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Lailah says, and her voice changes once more. “That is the Shepherd’s duty. Now, purify the hellion, Shepherd!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Rose rushes forward, but the hellion moves at the very last second, her dagger slicing through the miasma of malevolence instead.

_“Did you spend all our money on gambling again?! How could you?! You promised me you were going to buy the children clothes!”_

_Two scraggy looking children appear, skinny beyond belief. Their faces are fully of grime, with their clothes barely clinging to them, with holes everywhere. It’s a wonder that they’re still even alive._

_“She’s always bothering me, can’t she shut the hell up about it for once? Ah, jeez… if only she were gone… if only I didn’t have these children… if only I could run away to a place where no one could find me… I… I…”_

_Darkness._

_Because it’s nighttime when he snaps, when he decides he’s had enough, when he picks up the knife and creeps to his sleeping family, where he raises the blade and–_

_The night ends with an anguished howl that’s both beast and man._

Rose crashes into the wall. The hellion snarls at her and leaps through the window. It’s been boarded up, but it easily breaks through without any trouble, scampering down the alley.

“Rose!” Lailah screams at her.

Rose leaps to her feet, pushes both the bile and memories back down, and chases after the hellion. She’ll deal with that later. There are more important things at stake here than figuring out what the hell just happened.

_Can’t let that reach the normal people._

_Gotta purify it before it causes more trouble._

_This is my duty as Shepherd._

_This is…_

Rose dives after the hellion, daggers ready. It looks up at her, snarling with fangs bared. Instead, Rose sees the man underneath again, and—

_He killed his family._

_He brought this upon himself._

_He doesn’t deserve to be saved._

_He… doesn’t…_

Rose’s blade misses again, skimming the edge of malevolence once more.

_“They came again… said they were going to take my children next time… I had no choice! I know what happens to the children they take! I couldn’t… I couldn’t let that happen to them… please… s-someone help—“_

“Whoa!” Rose skids along the ground but it’s Zaveid who catches her. He carefully helps her upright, and she gives him a thankful nod. “I leave for a few minutes and this is what I’m treated to? Never a dull moment when you’re with the Shepherd, that’s for sure.”

Rose laughs, or tries to. Her voice is shaky. She hates that Zaveid notices, and how his easy grin seems to fall slightly. They’re too alike sometimes, Rose thinks.

“Rose, what’s wrong?” Lailah is at her side again, frantic. “Purify the hellion!”

Rose pulls herself out of Zaveid’s arms and stands up. Lailah’s right. Of course she is. Right now, Rose is the Shepherd. She needs to purify him, save his soul, allow him to come back.

“Or you can kill him.”

“Zaveid!” Lailah’s sharp reprimand only makes him grin, eyes trained on Rose.

“What will you judge, Shepherd? The hellion, or the man underneath?” Zaveid tugs on his hat, his eyes hidden from view. “Either he’ll live with his actions for the rest of his life… or not. What do you think would be salvation for him?”

“Zaveid.” It’s Edna who speaks this time, a curt warning, and Zaveid shrugs his shoulders, grin still on his face.

“I’m only saying this because it’s  _you_ , Rose. You’re  _different_  from Sorey.”

Rose understands. They’ve always known this even if they don’t talk about it. She spoke the words herself: Sorey’s mission was to give life, and Rose’s was to take it.

_Was._

The hellion stares at her, eyes completely black. Its claws are long and sharp, so easy for it to tear flesh. Its maw is large and filled to the brim with sharp fangs, ready to rip away the throats of its prey. Its body is lupine, furry all over and hunched as it uses its front legs to support itself as well.

It looks every bit a monster, and yet—

It’s a man’s face that stares back at her, with his eyes shining bright with fear, lips curled back in a terrified scream that no one can hear but him, his hands held up to his body only to protect himself.

Rose’s hand shakes for yet another moment before they still.

Kill? Or save? Rose’s never had the chance to make either before. For her, there had only been  _one_ choice, and she’s always done it without hesitation. It was for the good of the world, she had always told herself.

_If it’s evil, the Scattered Bones slay it._

Rose stares at the hellion once more, trying to focus. She wants to see the fearsome claws, that nasty snarl, the ferociousness of beast, but all she can see now is a terrified man who doesn’t even know what’s happened to him.

Is evil a man who only grew desperate enough that he thought death was the only option for his family?  

Rose feels her stomach churning. Later, she tells herself, she’ll deal with all these awful things later, but her mind is already wandering.

How many of those she killed were exactly like this man?

Rose chokes when she feels the bile rising in the back of her throat again.  _Purify the hellion_ , her mind is screaming at her.  _No, put this wretched existence out of his misery_ , another part screams.

What the Shepherd should do… what needs to be done… what Rose wantsto do…

Out of the corner of her eye, she catches Zaveid shifting slightly. Her eyes catch on his hat then.

And she remembers.

Rose rushes forward with her daggers for the last time. They dig deep into the malevolence, and the flames of purification burst forth.

The last wave of memories hits her all at once. Unable to catch herself in time, Rose crashes to the ground, and stays there. Her chest is heaving, mind spinning with memories that aren’t even hers, eyes closed tight, and she wants to, she just wants to—

The sound of the man’s body hitting the ground makes her tiredly open her eyes and glance over at him. He’s fine, barely a scratch on him. It makes Rose laugh bitterly.

_He lives on with his sins but those he killed are still dead._

Lailah stands over Rose, a shadow looming over her. Zaveid’s next to her, and he’s the one who bends down and helps Rose sit upright. Rose looks up at him, dazed slightly, but her eyes catch on his hat once more.

_Misery in living, or salvation in death? Was that how Dezel thought?_

She doesn’t know why she asks, it isn’t as if she’ll ever get that answer.

“Do you understand now?” Lailah’s voice, soft that it is, cuts through the air. “To purify a hellion born from a human means to take in _all_ of their malevolence. _Only_ the Shepherd can do that, no one else.”

“Then… even all those times when _I_ was the one purifying the hellions... those small shocks I felt...” Rose trails off, the realization creeping through her. “I… I had no idea. That means, Sorey… he…”

“Yes. Through your link, he felt everything still.” Lailah’s expression turns gentle and she joins Zaveid in bending down, gently laying a hand on Rose’s arm. Edna appears in front of her as well, facing away with her umbrella blocking the view.

“Not even we seraphim can help you with that.” Rose thinks it her imagination, but there’s something… sad, wistful in Edna’s voice. “The Shepherd will always be alone. You should do well to remember that.”

Rose looks down at her daggers, staring hard at them. She remembers Sorey, his smile still kind even after everything they had gone through. His spirit had still been so pure even after killing Tiamat and Eizen, even as he fell away to face the Lord of Calamity all by himself. How much he must have bore on the whole journey… Rose is beginning to realize that she’s only barely starting to scratch the surface of it all.

What a fool she’s been, she thinks in this moment, for taking lightly the Shepherd’s duties.

Rose’s hands begin to shake as her grip tightens on her daggers. She wants to laugh. She’s killed so many people with these daggers, and now she’ll use these very same blades to save the souls of humans who’ve lost their ways.

This is her duty as the Shepherd now. This is what she owes to Sorey, what she owes to Alisha, what she told herself she’d do for them. She looks back down at the man, lying so still he might as well be a corpse in the middle of the road, the flames of purification slowly flickering away him.

On any other day, she would have stabbed her daggers into him, watched as the color drained from his face as she leaned forward and whispered into his ear, “May these weary bones find peaceful rest.”

It would have been easier, Rose thinks.


End file.
